Two Notch Road is one of two runners seeking to defend a stakes title on Saturday’s card. Photo by Laurie Asseo.
by The Racing Biz
Saturday’s Grade 3 Commonwealth Oaks will highlight an 11-race program at Laurel Park that also offers five stakes races for horses bred in Virginia or sired by Virginia stallions. The day’s racing is presented by the Virginia Equine Alliance.
The races:
- 19th running of the $60,000 Brookmeade Stakes for fillies and mares three and up going 1 1/16 miles on the turf. The big field entered for this tilt includes Leda’s Swan, second by a neck in this race a year ago after checking at the five-eighths pole; Mike Trombetta trainee Seeking Her Glory, who was third in last year’s Grade 3 Here Comes the Bride at Gulfstream Park and has won one of five races this season; and Lilith Boucher’s Complete St., who won last year’s George Rosenberger Memorial at Delaware Park but is winless this season.
- 9th running of the $60,000 Jamestown Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf for 2-year-old fillies. The group of 13 includes Queen Caroline, a daughter of Blame who finished off the board on the dirt at Saratoga, and Gem, fifth in her career debut at Saratoga on the turf. The lone runner to have competed in stakes company is Gina Rosenthal trainee Holiday Wishes, most recently a distant third in the Selima Stakes.
- 17th running of the $60,000 Bert Allen Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. The nine-horse field includes defending champ Rose Brier, who has competed well this season while keeping good company, including a pair of defeats by two lengths or less in graded races; Special Envoy, second last time out in the Cliff Hanger (G3) at Monmouth and third earlier this year in the Henry S. Clark at Pimlico; and longtime Colonial stalwart Dannhauser, who ran third in this race last year.
- 17th running of the $60,000 Oakley Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf for fillies and mares three and up. Exaggerated, a decisive first-out winner for Arnaud Delacour with a big Beyer, figures to get plenty of attention from the bettors, as does Hooligan, a Wesley Ward tranee who won last year’s Jamestown, for juveniles, on this same card.
- 16th running of the $60,000 Punch Line Stakes, 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf for three-year-olds and up. Last year’s champ, Two Notch Road, who is winless since, returns to defend his crown. Among the potential rivals are Service for Ten, a Grade 3 winner on the dirt, and Pride of the Fleet, who was eighth in this event a year ago and whose most recent start was at 1 1/4 miles at Great Meadow in May.
